50 percent, yes, half of the U.S. homes with HDTVs do not have an HD cable box or HD satellite receiver, and 25 percent do not even know they are still watching non-HD signals. Consumers buy a new HDTV but do not understand how to get HD signals.

Your new HDTV needs an HD signal source. Just plugging your regular cable box or satellite box into your new HDTV won't get you a high-def picture. You'll need to contact your cable or satellite TV provider and ask for a High-Definition set-top box. Satellite TV subscribers may also have to upgrade their dish antennas. You also need to sign up for an HD subscription plan.

Still watching TV using an over-the-air antenna? A good, properly aligned rooftop VHF/UHF antenna is required for good reception and some of the best pictures possible can be obtained from your local channels. Cable TV subscribers know all too well about outages and it is always good to have backup over-the-air reception of local stations for weather alerts, news and other information while the cable is down.

Your HDTV, set-top box and cables must be configured properly. Make sure you're using the right inputs when connecting your HD set-top box to your HDTV. You must use either the component-video inputs (a trio of RCA-type plugs, marked "Y," "Pb," and "Pr" or colored green, blue, red) or the HDMI input. The composite (yellow) and S-Video connectors on your TV can't receive HD signals. Also, your HD cable or HD satellite box must be set to send an HD signal to your HDTV.

HOW TO SETUP YOUR HD BOX:

Go to the set-top box menu and look for the display settings, and select either 720p or 1080i (depending on the native resolution of your HDTV).

You must be watching the HD channels

Until all TV programming is High-Definition, you need to make sure you tune in the HD channels. Often a network or feed has two channels, one for standard-def and another for High-Def. The standard-definiton channel is usually lower and the HD channel is usually higher. For example channel 24 could be Discovery Channel but only in SD. Look for the HD channel which could be channel 240 for example and you will get the High-Def version of Discovery Channel.

More facts about HD

Many people are buying DVD players with video upconversion.
An upconverting DVD player doesn't turn standard DVDs into HD. DVD players that upconvert standard-def DVDs to almost 1080i or even 1080p are fine, but make no mistake; because the source DVD disc is standard definition, you're still watching an SD picture. It's just one that's been extrapolated to HD proportions, almost. If you want true HD images from your movies, you'll have to get a Blu-ray player and get the movie on a Blu-ray disc. Netflix also is now streaming HD content over the internet and if you have broadband internet service and a Net-ready HDTV, you can get movies this way.